


The Touch of a Soulmate

by mmitchell40



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, Fate, Fate & Destiny, Friendship/Love, Love, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Mention of Mental Illness, soul mates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-16
Updated: 2015-12-16
Packaged: 2018-05-07 04:08:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5442794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mmitchell40/pseuds/mmitchell40
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Young, 17 year old Harry lives in a world where fate plays a key role in people's every day lives and you find your soul mate by touching their skin with your bare hands. But with his OCD and fear of germs, he is always wearing gloves. With this in mind, and his cynicism about the whole "fate" idea, will he ever find his soul mate? His mother thinks so, and with the help of a friend, he just might.</p><p>(A short story I wrote for a creative writing class about those two beautiful gay men that I love from that one band. Lot's of fluff, super short, sort of adorable.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Touch of a Soulmate

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry for how short this is. I intended for it to be longer but my professor gave me a page limit so I did what I could with the limitations I had! I hope you enjoy the story
> 
> (edit: I didn't realize when I uploaded this that the italics from Word didn't carry over. I fixed that for you all!)

Since as long as anyone could remember, everyone had at least one soul mate during their lifetime. Usually this soul mate was a friend, a coworker, a family member; an individual that one could care for deeply but never quite fall off the edge of romance for, but sometimes fate would have it where one could be lucky enough to find their future spouse. Some, also, were lucky enough to have many soul mates during their lifetime. Some found theirs at a very young age, some at birth even, while others waited their whole life and passed away, never getting to find their true soul mate. However, if two soul mates were lucky enough to find one another, the bond could never be broken between them.

The trick was actually finding them.

For Harry, he was always certain that fate messed up on him. He was still quite young, only 17 years old, but did not believe that he had a soul mate, and was convinced that he would never have one. He thought the whole idea was ridiculous, anyways _. How in the world is this fate thing even supposed to be remotely reliable?_  he always thought to himself.  _There's no way that you could find your soul mate just by simply touching their skin. That's pretty ridiculous sounding to me. Fate has nothing to do with who your friends should be, who you fall in love with, or who you care about. It's all up to our choices throughout life, that's it._

Even with his cynicism, his mother Anne always tried to convince him of the validity of fate. Her argument was that it happened between her and Harry's father, and that fate was not something to be reckoned with. Whenever Harry's curiosity for the story peaked, he would always ask her the same question: "How did you know it was fate and not just attraction?" To this, his mother had no answer. She described the sensation as something unforgettable and incredibly powerful: She was on the subway on her way home from work one fateful day when she was Harry's age and was sitting alone when a young gentleman boarded the subway and sat in the seat next to her. They rode the subway together in silence for a few stops then something small, yet magical happened. Anne stood up to exit the subway at her stop and dropped her lip balm on the floor. As she bent down to pick it up, so did the stranger she sat next to, and their hands touched briefly as the stranger picked it up. Anne did not know how to describe the feeling she got when the stranger touched her hand except that it felt like her skin was a light bulb: glowing and warm. She looked into his eyes and felt like she could see every feature in his face. After that, she said that he got off of the stop with her and they went on their first date right then and there. They were engaged after 2 months, married after 5, and she had Harry after a year.

"But how did you know that it was fate?" Harry asked her one Saturday afternoon. "That story is very cute and touching and all, mom, but I don't understand. Couldn't it have just been infatuation at first sight then you two just fell in love?"

Anne grinned. "Well, I guess that could be a plausible explanation. But, you haven't gone through the experience yet either. You say you don't believe it now, but if you experience it someday, trust me when I say that you will believe in it afterwards. I was skeptical until it happened to me. Heaven knows your father was the perfect man for me, and I miss him more and more every day."

Harry smiled slightly, "I miss him too mom."

"And who knows?" Anne asked. "Maybe sometime soon you will find your own soul mate."

"Maybe," Harry stated, unconvinced. He knew that even if the whole "fate" thing was real, he still had a long way to go until he found his soul mate. Unfortunately, he had a severe form of obsessive compulsive disorder, and with that came the curse of mysophobia, or the fear of germs. Harry couldn't stand going longer than an hour without habitually washing his hands or using hand sanitizer, and whenever he went out in public, he needed to wear specialized gloves to keep his hands clean. Because of this, Harry knew that the only way for him to find out if his mother was right about the fate thing was to take off his gloves in public and face his fear of touching someone. He had already obviously touched his mother's skin before, and had touched his older sister's too, but no special connection happened, and Harry became defeated. His mother always believed that this was one of the reasons that he didn't believe in fate, and she knew that she was right, but never pressed the subject with her son, knowing that the topic was pretty personal.

Anne smiled at her son. "I think that it's going to happen sooner than you think, baby. Trust me on this, woman's intuition. It will happen when the moment is right."

"It's not going to happen soon, I know that for sure. I hate being touched by people, and I sure as hell won't be touching anyone's bare skin anytime soon."

Harry could almost feel his mom rolling her eyes at him, knowing full well that she was about to set up an elaborate counter-argument against his claims, when his jacket pocket suddenly began to vibrate. Harry held up a finger to tell his mother to wait as he looked down at his phone and looked at the text.

"Ah, it's Louis," he said to himself. Louis was his best friend from down the street that was two years older than he and they had been friends for seven years, so he and Harry understood each other more than anyone else in the world. Harry opened the message and saw only a picture of his front door in the text.  _Of course,_ he thought.  _Louis isn't the best at warning me when he wants to come over."_

"Louis is at our front door," Harry told his mom. "Do you know where my gloves are so that we can hang out?"

His mom pondered for a second. "Hmm. The last I saw them, they were on your hands. Do you think they might be in your room?"

"No, I checked in there this morning. No gloves. Maybe they're in the laundry room?"

Anne shook her head. "I did laundry this morning. They weren't there."

Suddenly there was a knock on the door followed by a soft spoken male voice with a Yorkshire accent. "Hello? Harry it's me, Louis. I texted you saying that I was here, did you get it? Let me in!"

"Uhh, just a minute!" Harry shouted towards the door in a panic. He knew that he couldn't hang out with Louis without his gloves, or at least he never had, but he was keeping Louis waiting at the door. He sighed as he mustered up as much courage as he could and opened the door without his gloves to see his friend in front of him.

"There you are! I was wondering what was taking you so long!"

Harry smiled weakly. "I couldn't find my gloves..."

Louis looked down at Harry's hands. "Oh, no. Should I come over some other time?"

"No, no," Harry answered. "I think I'm comfortable enough around you to not wear them, we just can't go out. Is that okay?"

Louis smiled at his friend as he entered the house and Harry shut the door with the sleeves of his jacket. "Of course! I wanted to hang out in your room anyways. We need to talk about some stuff. But for now, how about I make the three of us some tea?"

"I would love that," Anne stated, sitting back down on the couch. Harry's answer was just a quick, silent nod before he joined his mother on the couch, waiting for Louis to bring him a cup of tea. After about two hours of sitting downstairs together and drinking their tea, Harry and Louis excused themselves from Anne and went upstairs to Harry's room. Harry's room, to Louis and Harry, was a place of solace. Where they could tell their secrets and not worry about judgment from the world or hateful people. When something serious was brought up in that room, they knew that no one else would hear about it, and they would have nothing but support from one another. This particular time, Harry sensed a different tone in Louis' voice when he asked to go up to Harry's room. Harry thought that it was almost urgent, and pleading in a way that he couldn't put his finger on. So he complied with Louis' wishes and the two boys went upstairs to their safe place.

"So," Harry starts after a short awkward silence in his room, "did you see the most recent Manchester United footie game?", even though he knew that his friend had watched it.

Louis' face lit up with excitement, and whatever seemed to have been bothering him left his expression. "Yeah, I did see it! Man, I wish I was good enough to be on a team like that!"

"Maybe one day you will be!" Harry exclaimed.

"One can only hope," Louis replied with a smile, but it wasn't the regular smile that he had that Harry knew could light up the whole town. Suddenly, the mood in the room shifted as Harry got a feeling that Louis had something important that he needed to say.

Louis cleared this throat. "So uh, how have you been, Harry?"

Harry looked at his friend and saw something off with his expression. It was almost like he saw fear in Louis' eyes, and he didn't like it. "I'm... I'm good. I've been working really hard with my mom to find a medicine that could help with my compulsions, and I think we've actually found something this time that might work."

"Wow, that's great Harry!" Louis reached out to touch Harry's hand but quickly retreated when he remembered that Harry didn't have his gloves on. In their seven year friendship, Louis had not touched Harry's bare skin even once out of respect for his mental health problems. He opted for a thumbs up, which was something that he normally did towards his friend whenever he felt the need to congratulate or comfort him. Harry could tell that Louis still had something on his mind, however, and he was determined to get to the bottom of it.

"Is everything okay on your front?"

Louis' face contorted into a strange expression, like he was trying to smile but he was also holding back fear. "Yeah, um, I'm okay. I do have something that I wanted to talk to you about though..."

"I'm all ears," Harry replied, lounging himself across his bed.

"Well," Louis started, "as of recently I've been feeling a little... strange at times around some people."

"Strange around other people... alright well this story is already pulling me in. Do tell more, Louis," Harry teased, trying to lighten his friend's mood.

Louis smirked as he continued his story. "Well... it's like... I just... sometimes I'll be hanging out with a girl that I like, right? And I'll think she is so beautiful and amazing, but I'll always feel like something is missing... I don't know why this happens. I don't think that I'm emotionally unavailable. I'm completely over my previous relationships, and yet I just can't take that leap of faith for some reason."

"That does sound frustrating," Harry interjected.

"Well," Louis said, "that's not what I wanted to tell you, Harry. That's only part of it."

"And the thing you need to tell me is...?"

Louis sighed and closed his eyes tightly, almost like if he shut them hard enough he could disappear into the blackness the back of his eyelids created. "I think that I'm gay."

Harry sat straight up with no hesitation. "What? Did you just say what I think you just said?"

Louis blushed. "Maybe...Yeah."

Harry paused for a moment. "How long have you known this?"

"I feel like it's something I've always known, just not embraced."

"I think I'm in shock, Lou. Seriously?" Harry asked.

"I understand if this is too much for you," Louis replied in a hurry. "If you don't want to be friends with a gay guy then I get it..."

Harry's eyebrows raised. "You think that as fucked up as I am and you still handle me that I can't handle you liking men?"

Louis sighed. ""I dunno. I didn't think all of this through, except that I needed to tell you. You're the person I'm closest to out of everyone in my life."

Harry smiled. "Lou, thank you for telling me this. I know it had to be hard, but I feel honored that you trust me enough to tell me this. Seriously, from the bottom of my heart, I'm grateful." Without thinking, Harry reached out and touched Louis' hand.

_Bam. Everything that his mother told him was finally understandable, and totally inaccurate. And yet, Harry didn't have the words for it either. Maybe that's why his mother's words felt so wrong to him; there really was no human way to explain the feeling of fate. Yet there he was in his bedroom with his best friend Louis, feeling on top of the world. Like his palm was a light bulb, warm and glowing._

Harry retreated his hand almost as quickly as he placed it on top of Louis'. Both of the boys looked like they were in utter shock from the events that just happened, and stared at each other in disbelief. Was his mother right about fate and soul mates all along? As Harry stared at Louis, he noticed little things about his features that he never noticed before: his complexion was incredibly even and smooth except for the light freckles that dusted his nose and the apples of his cheeks, his eyes were light blue but had a small ring of green in the middle around his iris, he had a slight snaggle tooth in the front of his mouth; little things that he would have never noticed before but now he can't help but to notice.

"I cannot believe that just happened," Louis stated in disbelief.

Harry couldn't help but to let a smile creep onto his face as he tried to find the words to describe how he felt, but he was practically speechless. "I know. That was, wow. That was crazy, Lou."

Louis smiled at Harry, and Harry saw his snaggle tooth very visibly then. "Oh my God, Harry. I'm so proud of you!"

"Wait, huh?" Harry asked.

"You reached out and touched my hand with no gloves on and you didn't have a compulsion episode! This is amazing!"

Harry looked at him in disbelief.  _Did he not feel that too?_ he thought. "Yeah, uh. I guess I did," he replied unsurely.

Unexpectedly, Louis' phone beeped three times, signifying that he got a text message. "Oh crap!" he exclaimed. "I didn't notice how late it was! I've got to get home now!" Louis got up off of the chair and began to look for his wallet and keys.

"Oh, yeah. Don't want to be late for dinner or anything, right?" Harry remarked, still entirely too confused to make sense of the situation.

"Ah, there are my wallet and keys! Alright, Harry, I'll see you tomorrow hopefully!"

Louis began to leave but turned around in the doorway "Oh, and Harry? I really am proud of you. See you soon! Bye!"

"Yeah," Harry mumbled as Louis exited his room, "bye..."

A few moments after he heard the front door shut, Harry raced down the stairs to his mother sitting on the couch watching TV.

"MOM!" Harry shouted frantically from down the hall as he ran up to his mom. "IT HAPPENED! IT IS REAL MOM!"

"Jesus, Harry, what happened?" Anne asked as she looked at her panting, disheveled son.

"Mom, you don't understand, my soul mate is Louis! I touched his hand today, and I felt it, mom!"

"Wait, you touched Louis' hand? Like, with your own? Without gloves?"

Harry groaned. "That's not what's important here, mom! It's really real!"

Anne looked at Harry in shock for a moment before a huge smile burst across her face. "I knew he would be the one for you, Harry! I just knew it!"

Harry's face fell suddenly. "Whoa, wait mom. He's not 'the one for me'," he air-quoted. "He's just my friend. Friends can be soul mates, you've told me this before."

"Mhmm, and how do you feel about that?"

"Like he's my friend? I don't know, mom. All that happened was I reached out to touch his hand and comfort him after he told me something really personal, and suddenly I felt different."

Anne gave her son a knowing look. "And why did you reach out and touch him during that moment?"

"I dunno, I just felt like I needed to. Almost like the moment was right."

"Hm," Anne added. "And what happened afterwards?"

"I just..." Harry looked to the ceiling in wonder. "I felt like a light bulb, like you said. And suddenly, I could see every feature on his face perfectly."

Anne paused for a moment and waited for Harry to interject.

 "Wait a second... Louis is my romantic soul mate?" Harry asked with a small grin of disbelief on his face.

His mother smiled. "Yes, I do believe so, Harry."

Harry's face fell quickly. "But... but I'm not gay. Like, no. I definitely like girls. How can that be?"

Anne chuckled. "Well, maybe you're not gay, but fate is never wrong, Harry. Remember what I said? It's not a force to be reckoned with. I'd say that Louis just might be your exception in this situation."

Harry stood there and pondered the thought for a moment.  _But I definitely like girls! But we did have that connection... But I've never found a guy attractive before! But he is really beautiful, come to think of it._ A constant battle played in his head for a few seconds before he finally settled on the idea that yeah, maybe Louis was his exception. Harry frowned and looked to his mom. "But, I know he didn't feel the same. Nothing changed for him... Maybe I'm not his soul mate. Can that even happen?"

Anne laughed. "Oh Harry...  _You_  only touched him, meaning  _you_  only felt the connection."

"But you and dad—"

"Touched each other's hands when we went to pick up my chap stick. So we both felt it."

Harry looked shocked and bewildered. "So, what do I do now?"

"That's up to you," Anne replied. If you want to stay friends, then nothing I guess. Just know that the bond you have with him now is more powerful than anything else. I don't know of anyone that defied fate and succeeded. Or—"

Harry perked up at the 'or', and Anne knew then what he really wanted to do.

"—or you can get your little butt over to his house and let him find out how it feels to find his soul mate."

Harry grinned and sprinted into the front room to put his shoes on. He knew what he had to do and what was right in fate's eyes: he had to go make Louis touch his hand too. There was no way that he could hide his feelings from Louis, and he thought about the fact that he might be Louis' only soul mate and he couldn't let Louis live his whole life without knowing who his soul mate was. Before leaving the house, Harry lightly kissed his mom on the cheek and whispered a quick thank you before heading out on his journey.

Harry approached the door to Louis' house and rang the doorbell, wondering who would answer. His question was shortly answered by Louis' smiling mother Johanna at the door.

"Oh, Harry! What a pleasure to see you! What are you doing here? Did Lou forget something at your house again?"

Harry smiled. "Oh no, he didn't. But I do need to talk to him about something he told me at my house today."

"Well, right now we're eating dinner. You can join us if you'd like!" she offered, looking quizzically down at his gloveless hands.

"I'm sorry, but I am going to need to decline the offer. Can I just speak to Lou? I'm in a bit of a hurry..."

"Of course you can," Louis' mother said as she disappeared behind the door. A few seconds later, Louis opened it again.

"Harry? What are you doing here? Why did you leave your house without your gloves?"

Harry thought that Louis had gotten more beautiful since the last time he had seen him, even though had just seen him fifteen minutes before. "Louis. I need you to do me a favor."

"Anything," he replied.

"Hold my hands."

"What?" Louis interjected.

"Trust me on this. Hold my hands."

"Why?" he asked.

Harry was getting bored of the questions by this point and was just becoming nervous. "Lou, just trust me. It's going to be great." Harry reached out his hands for Louis to hold.

"Are you sure? I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

Harry grinned. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life."

Louis gave Harry a confused look then looked down at Harry's hands as he grabbed them, and Harry felt like a light bulb all over again. Except this time, when Louis looked up at him, he could tell that he felt like one too that time.


End file.
